This still image from video courtesy of SpaceX shows the launch of SpaceX's secretive US government payload known as Zuma, January 7, 2018 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Image: Douglas CURRAN / AFP PHOTO / AFP
Bloomberg: If Pentagon Knows More About Missing Satellite, It's Not Saying
* Questions referred to SpaceX, which says its rocket worked
* Senator supporting SpaceX rival says ‘they’ve had issues’
The Pentagon refused any public comment on a secret U.S. government satellite that apparently crashed into the sea after it was launched by Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp.
“I would have to refer you to SpaceX, who conducted the launch,” Defense Department spokeswoman Dana White said repeatedly in a briefing Thursday at the Pentagon, citing “the classified nature of all of this.” Asked what investigation is being conducted to ensure accountability for the loss of a costly payload, White told reporters she will “come back to you on that.”
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket seemed to lift off successfully from the pad at Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Sunday carrying a classified payload in a mission code-named Zuma, but the satellite has gone missing. Lawmakers are receiving classified briefings on the lost satellite.
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Update #1: We Still Have No Idea What Happened With SpaceX's Classified Government Satellite Launch (TIME)
Update #2: SpaceX denies that it lost the ‘Zuma’ spy satellite (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/L.A. Times)
WNU Editor: I am sure that in the coming weeks the reasons for this failure will be known. But will SpaceX or the Pentagon make it public is another story.
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